Being Healthy: Share the Love!

Every week there’s a new study that says something we
already know. This week’s edition is a study that says that most people believe
that friends and family play an important role when it comes to personal health
and nutrition.

In essence, it says friends and family influence our lives.
I’m pretty sure most people will admit to something like that.

It’s like those moments where you get in trouble and your
mom tells you to stop hanging out with “the wrong crowd.” Everyone’s mom knows
what this study proves—you’re highly influenced by your friends.

What would normally be another “duh” study, researchers involved in the Edelman
Health Barometer 2011 global survey (which included 15,000 people in 12
countries) found that often times those friends and family members have just as
strong of a role in your health as do medical professionals.

Yes, your best friend might not have a medical degree, but
you’re just as likely to imitate their health-related behavior as you are take
your doctor’s advice.

That’s a good thing if your friends are all into organic
groceries, yoga in the park, and meditative exercises. You all can have the
same good laughs when you’re 100 as you do now. But, if they’re into late
nights with tumblers of whiskey, cigarettes, and 12-ounce curls for exercise, it’s
likely that you’ll follow their behavior and put your jeopardy in health.

The most interesting fact to come out of the study is how
those who have a healthier lifestyle don’t pass that health knowledge onto
others who could use that information. To boil it down, the healthy don’t
connect with those that aren’t.

This isn’t to say that the healthy people are hoarding the
information (look around our site—we’ve got tons to share), but rather they
can’t easily pass on the healthier traits to those around them.

Whoa.

That’s not cool.

Let’s face hard facts: being healthy takes hard work at
first. Weaning anyone off of fast food, lazy habits, and numerous vices isn’t
something you can do overnight. Taking the healthy way through life takes
discipline that’s not everyone’s forte. Plus, trying to get someone else to
change their habits when they aren’t ready can be exhausting.

Then again, even small changes such as regular exercise,
good diet, enough sleep, and a few glasses of water a day can make you feel
better than you probably do now. You can have more energy, less stress and an
overall sunnier disposition than a Big Mac, fries, and Coke could ever provide
you.

What the facts of the study suggest is that healthy people
aren’t trying to get their loved ones to be healthy with them—they’re only
gravitating to like-minded people. Basically, if you’re a health nut, you
gravitate to other health nuts.

Trust me, I know this. The second I tell someone I write for
a health website, all of the health nuts come right out of the woodwork.

But that’s kind of how human beings work. People naturally
gravitate to those like themselves. Rarely will you find people with different
cultural, academic, religious, or other backgrounds mingling freely together.
Healthy lifestyle is yet another thing that can separate us into homogenous
groups.

Still, 44 percent of people in the study said they didn’t
let health status or behavior affect who they called a friend. That’s nice,
too.

Growing up in Wisconsin, my eating habits were not particularly
splendid. The Dairy State lives up to its name; gooey mounds of cheese can turn
the most boring leftovers into a casserole.

Then, after moving away, acquiring some serious sports
injuries, and reading up on small changes I could make to my health, I began
cooking healthier food with lower fat and putting actual green things on my
plate. Basically, I learned to take the foods I loved and make them healthier,
like a whole-wheat crust pizza with a spinach-pesto sauce.

Let’s just say some of that new cooking drew some weird
looks when I’d cook for my family on visits. They all thought I went California
hippie on them.

When I was cooking healthier for the party celebrating my
mother’s last treatment for breast cancer, people paid more attention because
the theme of the whole night was celebrating health, not slamming down fistfuls
of cheese. I was proud to give away some of my healthy recipes that night.

I’m still not the healthiest person alive, but small,
healthier choices keep making their way into my life.

And if you ask me, I can offer some health tips. I’m no
doctor, but that’s what good friends are for.

Recommended for You

--By Jenara NerenbergThe GistResearchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have concluded that a drug normally used to treat psoriasis—ustekinumab—can also decrease symptoms associated with Crohn's disease, according to a new s...

-- by Jenara NerenbergThe GistMercury consumption—most often from fish—by pregnant women may be associated with an increased risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in their children,a new reportpublished online byArchives of Pedi...

The GistBenzodiazepines are a class of drugs frequently prescribed to treat anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, and other conditions including alcohol dependence and seizures. Introduced in the 1960s, they offered a relatively safe replacement...

The Gist We’ve all heard the adage: “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But is it true? Over the years, considerable attention has been paid to combating the “sticks and stones”—namely, nose-bloodying scho...